Journal of English Language Teaching and Learning
Volume:4 Issue: 10, Autumn-Winter 2012

Second language learners often develop grammatical competence in the absence of concomitant pragmatic competence (Kasper & Roever, 2005) and the exact nature of the relationship between the two competences is still indistinct and in need of inquiries (Bardovi-Harlig, 1999; Khatib & Ahmadisafa, 2011). This study is a partial attempt to address the lacuna and aims to see if any relationship can be found between English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners’ lexico-grammatical and interlanguage pragmatic competences and if such a relationship is found, whether the gender variable affects it or not. A group of 110 male/female senior university EFL students took a standardized lexico-grammatical proficiency test and a researcher made and validated multiple choice pragmatic discourse completion task test including four speech acts of disagreement, scolding, request and complaint at four levels of formality and familiarity. The results indicate that there is a positive correlation between the learner's lexico-grammatical and pragmatic competences. Furthermore, the correlation is stronger for female EFL learners than the male participants though the pragmatic competence level of the male and female participants was not significantly different. The results imply that grammatical competence is not in itself sufficient for the EFL learner's pragmatic competence but it can definitely constrain the development of interlanguage pragmatic competence.

This study aims to delve into the unobservable dimensions of deciding and acting in a pragmatically significant speech event. Utilizing a Discourse Completion Test questionnaire, it seeks to find out the structure and pragmatic functions that lie behind EFL learners’ choice of specific wording while engaged in performing a recurrent speech act in Iran i.e. compliments. To this aim, 30 EFL learners were requested to self-assess their performance in a number of presumed situations in which they were required to make compliments to different addressees. The participants were adult intermediate EFL learners in 18-35 range of age. They were of both sexes and studied English between 1.5 to 5 years. To complete the tasks, they both made notes of their responses and uttered out simultaneously why they complimented in a certain way. Their responses along with transcriptions of their recorded think-aloud protocols were subsequently analyzed in this paper as for their structures and pragmatic functions according to Manes & Wolfson (1981), and Brown & Levinson (1987).

With the development of research on educational psychology and foreign language teaching and learning, one of the most controversial concepts in educational psychology might be the issues related to the students’ achievement goal orientations. Regarding the goals that students adopt which might influence their academic success and failure, this study was undertaken to determine whether gender and different years of education affected the relationship between students’ achievement goal and their academic achievement. To achieve such goals, achievement goal orientation questionnaires were distributed among 182 male and female B.A. students, majoring in English Literature at Shiraz University. The obtained data were analyzed through multiple regression coefficient. The results showed that only in the case of females, gender affected the relationship between students with performance approach and performance avoidant goal orientation and their academic achievement. In addition, in the case of freshmen and juniors, only performance approach was the significant predictor of the students’ academic achievement. Regarding sophomore students, adopting such a goal did not have significant effects on their academic achievement. Likewise, in the case of seniors, both performance approach and performance avoidant had significant effects on the students’ academic achievement.

The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the perceived social self-efficacy of the students of English and their foreign language classroom anxiety. The required data were gathered through the application of the original versions of two standard questionnaires: Smith and Betz’s (2000) 25-item Scale of Perceived Social Self-Efficacy (SPSSE) and Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope’s (1986) 33-item Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS). A total of 151 participants (including 127 students of English Language and Literature in B.A. level and 24 students of Teaching English as a Foreign Language at M.A. level) took part in the study. Correlational analysis was employed to determine the relationship between perceived social self-efficacy and foreign language classroom anxiety. Pearson Product-Moment correlation analysis results (r = -.164, p <. 05) showed that the participants’ perceived social self-efficacy had a reverse relationship with their foreign language classroom anxiety. Further calculations were done for the type and rate of the influence of demographic variables (namely age, gender, academic seniority, and educational level) on students’ PSSE and FLCA. According to the One-Way ANOVA results, no meaningful relationship was observed between age, gender, academic seniority, and educational level of the participants, and their perceived social self-efficacy or foreign language classroom anxiety. Based on the findings of this study, the rate of perceived social self-efficacy (i.e. trust in self in social situations) seems to play a key role in the intensity of foreign language learners’ anxiety and a vital parameter in their full-functioning and efficient learning.

Condolence is part of Austin’s expressive speech act and is related to Searle’s behabitives illocutionary act. Although a theoretically sound issue in pragmatics, condolence speech act has not been investigated as much as other speech acts in discourse-related studies. This paper aims at investigating interjections and intensifiers while performing condolence speech act among Persian and English speakers. Movie analysis was utilized to gather information about how native speakers used interjections and intensifiers while performing condolence speech act. Of particular interest was the use of repetition, multiple intensifiers, implicit intensifiers, expressing explicit concern for the bereaved, and using adjectival intensifiers. The results of the Chi-square revealed that: a) there was a significant difference among intensifiers and interjections in each culture; b) interjections and intensifiers can be organized semantically; and (c) the nature of English and Persian intensifiers is syntactically different. To link theory into practice, pedagogical implications are discussed in the context of EFL.

Pairing theory with methodology, this study demonstrates how EFL teachers’ limited wait-time practice structures in and affects the structuring of the unfolding classroom discourse with reference to learners’ participation opportunities. Informed by the tenets of conversation analysis, we have observed, videotaped, and transcribed line-by-line 10 EFL teachers’ naturally-occurring classroom interaction. Analyses of six episodes from the data suggest that teachers’ seemingly inadvertent implementation of limited wait-time tends to reduce learners’ interactional space. Moreover, it serves the (dys)function of triggering those interactive practices whose structuring diverts teacher talk from the major pedagogic goal, i.e. increasing leaner participation. The findings of this study can be analytically generalized to the theoretical model of communicative competence. They can also help teachers on their way towards developing their classroom interactional competence.